Halloween Carnival Volume 4 Read online

  Kyle made a noise, and I moved around the garage, looking at the various tools Craig had scattered about. I pretended to be interested in them, but I wondered as to what Craig really knew. Had he actually been to Graver’s Farm before? Maybe he’d been caught and was too embarrassed to admit it. I thought it was a possibility, at least. But no way would I ask him that one…His image was too cool. Besides, he could kick my ass, no problem.

  Outside, leaves scraped against the window as the wind picked up. The sun had sunk below the surrounding hills and dusk had arrived, signaling the advent of a cool fall evening. Kyle was talking about something in the engine, then Craig went over to the fridge, opening it and grabbing three cans of Bud.

  “Drink them quick; it’s getting late and I have to go into the garage tonight.”

  “For what?” Kyle asked.

  “Ah, working on stuff, like a tranny that came in. Listen, if you get caught drinking I never saw you guys before…” Craig stood, looking out the window before glancing at the clock on the wall. It was an old wooden one with a picture of a wolf in the middle and Native American diagrams on the sides.

  “Pay you overtime?” Kyle asked.

  “Yeah. I need to take care of my bills…” His voice drifted off.

  I knew he rented the place, which was little more than a small cottage surrounded by woods on every side. I don’t know how much land came with the property, but it didn’t really matter. There were hundreds of acres hemming it in on both sides and across the street nothing but deep trees leading to fields, and then tall stalks of corn. This corner of the mountain consisted of several farms, with one or two homes. There were a few more toward my place, but the area was mostly isolated, giving a lot of room to roam for me and Kyle. Nobody bothered you around here. I could say the same for at home, too. My mom had left us a few years back and my dad worked overtime every week. It was kind of cool being on my own most of the time, although I missed my mom a lot. And my dad.

  “All right, you guys gotta leave,” Craig said, standing. “I have to go in a few minutes.”

  I finished my beer and threw the can into the garbage. Kyle did the same, burping.

  “One of these days we’ll come over and surprise you at work,” I said.

  Craig gave me an angry look. “No way. I can’t have anyone in there. I’d be in big trouble. So don’t even think about it.”

  I shrugged, put off a little by his attitude. He was usually cool to us, but he also acted a bit weird at times. Actually, pretty often. Like when we had questioned him about Graver’s Farm…

  “All right. Let’s go. Thanks for the beer.” I said.

  “No problem.”

  “We’ll stop by sometime this week,” Kyle offered.

  “I’m working every day,” Craig answered. “Don’t you have school or Halloween stuff to do anyway?”

  “Yeah,” Kyle said. “Raiding every night and watching monster movies.”

  “Well, then do your thing. Enjoy it now. When you’re older you’ll look back and see how good you had it…” His voice trailed off again, and he sounded sad. Did he miss his own childhood that much? He wasn’t that old himself—mid-twenties I would say.

  “Later.” Kyle waved and I followed after, both of us going out the door. We picked up our bikes and pedaled off, shivering as the air had grown even cooler. Dusk was in full assault, and we’d be lucky to make it back before total dark. Normally I didn’t mind being out after sunset on the mountain, but now…it felt different somehow. Nightfall did that to a landscape, and your mind. Things change, and everything seems different. Plus all that talk about Graver’s Farm must have spooked me and set my nerves in full gear. Gliding along, we passed the tall silhouettes of forlorn trees as they patiently awaited the reaping of their leaves by an eager fall. The road was filled with their residue; piles here, a scattering there, all of them dried and spent, the colors leaking away.

  Ten minutes later we reached the bottom of my property and paused. A long driveway lay around a sharp bend, and I could just barely make out the porch light through holes in the foliage.

  “All right, I’m heading home myself. We’ll go out Friday night. But I want to get back by nine. They’re showing Dracula and The Mummy back to back,” Kyle said.

  “Yeah? That’s cool. We have enough corn to last us until Halloween.”

  The big day was coming quickly. Where had all the time gone? We’d been out raiding every week since October started, and had a blast doing it, not getting caught. We really were too smart. Or we thought we were, at least. We hooked up with a few other kids once in a while, but some of them were reckless or just plain stupid. So we had to watch who we went with. Kyle and I made the best team, and we were in no hurry to break up a good thing.

  “All right, I’m out of here. Man, it’s getting dark earlier every day. And colder.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  He started off, then turned his neck around. “And don’t forget. We’re going down in that hollow and having a look around. Soon.”

  I opened my mouth to protest but said nothing. The matter was settled by my silence. In that moment, I knew I was going with Kyle into Graver’s Farm. A cold chill passed though me then, and I wondered what I had gotten myself into and if any of the stories would turn out to be true…

  —

  Leaning my bike against the wall, I walked past the bale of hay and cornstalk in the corner of our porch, taking out my key and opening the lock. I was glad to be inside and out of the cool air, but I knew the chill wasn’t entirely from the fall breeze.

  Buffer hobbled up from his cushion to see me, and I patted him on the head as he wagged his tail in greeting.

  “Hungry, boy?”

  Dumb question, and he followed me out to the kitchen where I prepared his meal of canned wet food mixed with some dry. I filled his water dish, and knew I should take him out soon, but I was hungry myself. I turned the TV on in the living room, finding comfort in the background noise. Nothing good was on, but it helped fill an empty house with sound at least…

  I made myself a quick sandwich and opened the back door, letting the dog out. I followed after, shovel in hand. Both my dad and I were fussy went it came to cleanliness, inside the house and out. We had a large yard surrounded on every side by trees. I don’t know how much property we actually owned, only that it was a bunch of acres. The Thompsons lived behind us and to one side, and they had a lot more land than we did, although they didn’t do anything with it. Just a lot of woods and a small stream about a quarter-mile in.

  I looked up and saw the evening stars already out. The brightest one didn’t twinkle, so I knew it had to be a planet, probably Venus. Astronomy interested me but was also confusing. A lot of math and theory. And the universe is just so darn big that it hurts my head even thinking about it. It was pretty bright out, the moon coming into full any day now. Branches waved gently overhead, like the hands of giants moving in a slow dance. A few clouds peeked through gaps in the canopy, giving the landscape a weird backdrop. Appropriate for the season and Halloween, I thought. So I moved around the yard, kept company by the crickets, stars, and the dog.

  Buffer was soon done with his business, and I cleaned up after him, shoveling the mess into the trees. It was then I noticed that it had grown quiet, and even the crickets had quickly ceased their evening song.

  I started as the dog let out a low growl, and stopped in my tracks.

  Buffer never growled at anything…

  I looked at the dog to make sure it was actually coming from him. No question.

  If the growl had startled me, his appearance doubled it. Hair stood on the back of his neck and he stared into the woods, the deepest part that ran for miles with no homes in that area. I followed his gaze, and the dog suddenly bolted toward the door, whining at the entrance.

  More than a little spooked, I backed away, my eyes never leaving the woods. There had to be some wild animal out there that he smelled. But he was used to deer,
raccoons, and possums. Nothing much else lived around here, except for the occasional fox and stray cat.

  Unless there was someone out there poking around.

  No, I thought. He wouldn’t act like this, even to a stranger. Maybe a few warning barks, but not this…

  “Hey,” I yelled. “Anybody out there?”

  The words sounded weak in my own ears. I wasn’t easily scared, but the dog had me riled pretty good, and the thought of some stranger roaming around wasn’t a very pleasant thought.

  I stiffened then, my eyes widening as I now heard shuffling in the trees, and I thought I could see a shape moving slowly through the brush. I retreated cautiously to the porch and opened the door, the dog nearly knocking me over in his rush to get inside. I quickly pulled the latch and turned on all the outside lights, genuinely worried. Making sure the front door and all the windows were locked, I ran upstairs, going into my bedroom, where I kept the light off, and stared outside, Buffer jumping on the bed and lying there. My window was half open, and I peered outward, eyes straining. I didn’t see anything out there, and if something still remained, it was in no hurry to reveal itself.

  I really didn’t want to call the cops, since I had no proof that it was actually a prowler. Plus the local police knew who I was, to be honest. Kyle and I were careful not to get caught while out causing some mischief, but some other kids had been, and we’d heard talk that our names had been mentioned more than once. We needed to be on our guard. Halloween was the best time for pranks, and if they thought I was trying to pull one on them, I would be in deep trouble from both them and my dad.

  So I sat, watched, and waited. But nothing showed itself. Before too long I heard the crickets chirping again, so I finally relaxed, moving around the house and looking outside from time to time. My dad would be home late as usual, and there was nothing for me to do but watch TV with the dog at my feet, and wonder what I had seen.

  —

  Kyle and I sat in the cafeteria on our lunch break, neither of us talking too much. I’d been quiet most of the day, thinking about last night.

  “We’re going there tomorrow after dark.”

  “What?” I said.

  “You heard me. Graver’s Farm. What better time than on Halloween.”

  Tomorrow was the big day, and I’d almost forgotten about Kyle’s boast that we would go down in the hollow and see what was there. But I wasn’t feeling any of his enthusiasm…

  “You’re coming with me. Don’t even try and back out.”

  I looked at Kyle then, as if noticing him sitting there for the first time. Behind him, orange-and-black banners ran along the wall, accompanied by paper cutouts of witches and cats. Students bustled about all around us, carrying trays filled with food from the school’s annual Halloween lunch, such as tombstone brownies and sloppy goblins, but I couldn’t care less. My head was spinning, trying to focus on Halloween and the latest events in my life. I felt kind of weird at that moment. There it was, Graver’s Farm, looming right in front of me. I could easily picture the sunken hollow and forlorn trees, the dirt road leading down into the fields and vegetation, coming to an invisible end at a huge expanse of farmland, and somewhere in the distance the house itself, where Farmer Graver lived. I did feel some excitement at the prospect, but also a shiver of fear at the uncertainty. To be honest, more than just a shiver. The farm had always been a thing of mystery for me growing up. A black spot on the mountain that kids whispered about while adults gently shook their heads and laughed. I had to ask myself, what was I really afraid of? Ghosts and goblins? Hardly…But maybe there was something else going on here. Deeper, more insidious.

  More adult.

  For the first time in my life, I actually felt like, well…grown up. Or something close to it. I wanted to preserve the mystery of Graver’s Farm in my mind, keep it in a place where I could always return, and hold on to my youth, because I knew that someday soon I would be a different person. Older, probably a lot smarter as well. I didn’t want to lose something special, and I felt like I was on the verge of exactly that…

  Circumstances demanded my attention and a few minutes later our lunch time was over, the hallways filled with students heading off to their next class, Kyle and I going to ours. The afternoon proved to be an easy one for us, though, as teachers directed their individual flocks outside into the cool autumn air to watch as the elementary kids marched in their annual Halloween parade. I sat on the grass, relieved like everyone else to get out of the classroom and into the fresh air. Before me went an orderly throng of costumed children, a variety both silly and ghoulish. There went a ghost in homemade white bedsheets walking alongside a fairy-tale princess. Robots and wolf men were partners in crime, a pair of them growling as they recognized an older brother or sister. Parents waved from across the street, encouraging a few of the more bashful ones. All of them had orange-and-black treat bags in hand, several of them sneaking tiny fingers to search out their sugary favorites.

  I was in a dreamy mood, neither enjoying the show nor disliking it, lost in my own thoughts. But I was a bit envious. Only a few short years back I’d been a member of that same goblin parade, innocent and having few cares for the world around me. My mom had watched silently from the sidewalk like all the others, waving and smiling quietly as I spotted her, shambling forward in my scarecrow costume. I remember the itchy feeling I’d had from all the hay stuffed in my denim overalls, but the costume had won me first prize in my class.

  Now she was gone, taken out of my life for reasons known only to her.

  I didn’t remember my parents ever having an argument, but I could still picture my dad’s expressionless face when he told me she wasn’t coming back. And just like that, with a quick, cruel twist of fate, my mom was removed and put aside as a thing of my past—a real ghost, almost as if she’d never even existed. I didn’t hate her, but I don’t know if I could really love her again after what she did to us. Even my memory of her gradually leaked away as the months went by. I would never entirely forget her, I knew. But she was not part of my life anymore, reduced to nothing more than a fading shadow. They say something about the passing of time making things better, but I don’t know how true it is. You don’t have much of a choice when an event like this takes place, no control over it at all. So the only thing you can do is live your own life, follow whatever routine you did before, and deal with it. If you’re lucky enough to have dreams, then you work hard to make them a reality. For myself, I lived my life day to day. Most kids would probably have cried half the time, remembering their mom and losing her, but I quickly grew numb to the whole thing. And now I was really alone, seeing Kyle and my dog more than my own dad as he constantly worked. I wondered if that might be why my dad started working so much—to forget her, and me. Maybe this was his way of dealing with it. He was killing himself by working so much. Horrible as it sounded, maybe it was his way of committing suicide.

  But I didn’t know anything for sure, and wasn’t about to bring it up to him. In the end, since there was nothing I could do about it, I tried not to think on it too much.

  Dark clouds moved in, covering the sky in a blanket of autumn gloom, and the air grew cooler. Halloween was close by, and I thought the weather should always have a certain look and feel to it around the end of October in order to welcome the big day itself. If it was too hot it just didn’t feel like Halloween. Cool was good, maybe even cold. Clouds definitely helped, and of course the wind. Leaves fell off trees while plants wilted and died away. I wasn’t quite sure where Halloween came from, something about Druids and Celts, but they sure had picked the best time of year for it.

  —

  The raiders were out in force later that night.

  Kyle and I rode our bikes down the big hill and into town, teaming up with a few other boys. Grabbing shopping bags filled with corn which we’d left at Ryan Hill’s back porch, we were armed to the gills with small kernels of ammo plus a few green tomatoes picked from their garden.

&n
bsp; And we let loose like a pack of angry goblins.

  The evening was perfect. The moon, nearly full, hid behind high clouds, at times eerily illuminating the town, the neighborhood trees casting skeletal shadows on the concrete sidewalks and mowed lawns. We ran through narrow alleyways and across backyards, avoiding lighted areas and approaching cars. Some of these we nailed with tomatoes, then ran for our lives afterward. Skipp Richard had stolen several rolls of toilet paper from the school bathroom, and we draped it recklessly around a few trees, even wrapping a red Pinto like a cherry-colored mummy. More than a few home owners came to their front doors, hearing all the commotion we caused by throwing corn or stomping on porches, but we were always too quick for them, slipping away as the doors creaked open, never revealing ourselves, the true children of the night.

  It was getting late, and Skipp had to get back, a limping Ryan at his side from tripping on a curb. We watched them leave around the front of his house, deciding to make one last sweep of the immediate neighborhood. We’d left our bikes safely behind Ryan’s shed and had plenty of room to maneuver in his spacious yard. He didn’t care if we hung out there or not. It was our favorite launching point, since there was a line of trees on one side and hedgerows on the other, with the back of the house sealing off one direction, the shed and a wide expanse of grass filling in the rest.

  We poked our way carefully toward the street using the hedge for cover. Kyle stepped onto the sidewalk, angling his head in both directions. I looked back at the house and toward Ryan’s window, where a light flicked on. He must be heading for bed soon, I thought. The moon had escaped once again from the clouds and I admired the night sky. It looked like Halloween. Smelled like it, too, as I caught the smoky scent of wood burning somewhere close by, probably from a chimney. The evening had the perfect feel to it, and this was exactly what I had visualized earlier.